ToDo List Zero

Many of us remember Merlin Mann’s presentation at Google a few years back on Inbox Zero. This concept has permeated the productivity world.

I have desired to have Todo List Zero. The presence of a large todo list can, at times, seem overwhelming. Sometimes my list is up to 175 items.

GTD leads to large todo lists because of the goal of getting everything out of your head and into the system.

I have told myself that I just have to get the most important things done each day, that I should not think about the size of the global list. This has helped frequently. I’d call this MIT Zero, or Daily Todo List Zero.

How would it feel to have a day where the list was empty at the end of the day? There would have to be nothing I was waiting for (in Taskpaper items I am waiting on are tagged with “@w” and colored blue). There could not be any open projects.

I know this is not a realistic dream. But, I can’t help but think about it sometimes. What if?